by Kenneth Woods | Feb 11, 2019 | Nuts and bolts
It was a dark and stormy night. Really, it was. A man races through a maelstrom, his energy rapidly leaving him. Cold, soaking and exhausted, he sees a house and makes for it. He makes his way inside. As the last drop of adrenaline drains from his system, he lays down...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 16, 2019 | A view from the podium
When John Joubert passed away this week (on January 7) at the age of ninety-one, he left behind a vast body of work, reaching to nearly 200 opus numbers, including seven operas, three Symphonies and four Concertos. If it is a source of frustration for those of us who...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 29, 2018 | A view from the podium
Ensemble Epomeo- Penderecki, Kurtág, Schnittke and Weinberg String Trio’s £12.00 “For its second disc – generously filled, and rewardingly programmed – string trio Ensemble Epomeo focuses on music composed in Eastern Europe and Russia in the late 20th...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 6, 2018 | A view from the podium, News and Reviews
“Terrific music like this renews my faith in the symphony as a genre… a feeling of reconciliation worthy of the Mahler 10th.” From the March/April 2018 Edition of American Record Guide Philip Sawyers (1951- ) is patently a composer of no small gifts. His Symphony 3...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 25, 2018 | Explore the Score
Book your tickets here for this fantastic programme with the English Symphony Orchestra in Hereford Shirehall, 7 October 2018 at 3:30 English Symphony Orchestra Kenneth Woods – Artistic Director Roman Kosyakov – Piano Programme Schumann – Symphony No. 4 Liszt –...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 17, 2018 | cello, News and Reviews
A rave review in the October 2018 issue of BBC Music Magazine “The Briggs Trio responds to the style with enormous affection, following the mood changes from passionate to witty with eagle ears, and it sounds as if they have been living with the music for a long...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 16, 2018 | A view from the podium, Bobby and Hans, News and Reviews
Ken’s most recent recording as a cellist with the Briggs Piano Trio, an Avie Records disc of trios by Hans Gál and Dmitri Shostakovich, has been awarded the coveted Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice for October 2018. Here is the review from critic...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 4, 2018 | News and Reviews
High praise in this month’s edition of BBC Music Magazine from Erik Levi for Kenneth Woods, conductor’s orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet no. 2 in A major on Nimbus Records. The August issue of BBC Music is on sale from all good retailers....
by Kenneth Woods | Aug 25, 2018 | Mahler, Mahler- Performer's Perspective
One hundred years from the day of his birth, Leonard Bernstein remains for many music lovers a marmite musician. Reactions to his work as composer, conductor and pianist remain both strong and strongly divided. No part of his legacy remains more controversial than his...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 15, 2018 | A view from the podium
Thurs April 19th at 730 PM St John’s Smith Square CONDUCTOR Ives- Symphony No. 3 ‘The Camp Meeting’ Copland- Clarinet Concerto Jesse Jones- Smith Square Dances (world premiere, commissioned by the ESO & St John’s Smith Square) Piston- Sinfonietta...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 3, 2018 | Mahler, Mahler- Performer's Perspective
Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde is a work that ends with the beginning of a journey. Across the first five movements, and through much of the sixth, the narrative voices we hear are passive ones. In the third and fourth songs, the poetry of Li T’ai-po...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 30, 2018 | Mahler, Mahler- Performer's Perspective
I’m conducting an incredibly cool programme next week with my friends in the English Symphony Orchestra on the 10th of February in Worcester’s lovely Huntingdon Hall. We’re doing Erwin Stein’s magical chamber version of Mahler’s...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 2, 2018 | A future for music
If nothing else, 2017 tested one’s ability to live by rule that one doesn’t speak about politics or religion in polite company. I’ve struggled to come up with some New Year’s thoughts this year because, frankly, it feels a little absurd to be talking about...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 2, 2018 | A view from the podium
“What an astonishing year for British symphonies on disc… Philip Sawyers‘s classically structured Third, however, out-compels its rivals in sweep, scope and and the ESO’s gripping performance” Congrats to April Fredrick, soprano, and producer Simon Fox-Gal, but...
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